Thursday, July 11, 2013

We recently were included in a group exhibition entitled "LAND". Over forty artists participated and developed works of art, performance pieces and time based projects for the one day event on June 22nd, 2013.

The works were situated in the picturesque setting of the Colorado landscape of the Wittemeyer Ranch just west of Boulder in the foothills. The curators of the exhibit were Petra Sertic from the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and Denver artist, Alvin Gregorio. Artists were chosen to engage this particular region of Colorado in it's historical and/or current context through works of art in a variety of mediums, including large scale site-specific installations, time-based art, and experimental projects.

Our contributions were four entry way projects. At the Wittemeyer Ranch gates were a welcoming cluster of white flags along the roadway welcoming the out-of-doors gallery hikers. At the beginning of the trail entering the area of the exhibition were series of spinning mirrored Mylar ribbons along with broken 'glass' strands and reflective aluminum. As wind caught the kinetic sculpture, light reflections danced on the ground and flashed up the trees as people walked under the forest light show.

Tree Talk - by George Peters

my work table for "Tree Talk"

I entitled this piece "Tree Talk". Through a series of science experiments in the eighties involving detectors placed in forest areas it was discovered that trees emit certain chemical signals into the air warning other trees of insect or parasitic invasions and thus triggering changes in the tree's natural defense systems. The strung lines of forms refer to these aerial streams of conversations between the trees.

Melanie's piece, entitled "At the Edge of Memory - Drawn with the Wind" featured a group of drawings on cardboard tree stump tables. Pens, pencils and charcoal drawing instruments danced over the paper suspended by paper flagged strings strung from the tree branches creating individual time tracings from the wind and tree branch movements.

Drawn with the Wind - by Melanie Walker

We also created an additional installation the day of the set up using plastic Christmas ornamental lawn deer. "Deer 'n the Headlights" features four plastic deer each with light bulb 'horns'. The deer were donated by our neighbor, Brad, after I spotted the deer in a pile in his open garage. "Hey, Brad... Can I borrow those?" Brad replied "Sure George... but under one condition... that you do NOT bring them back!". The deer now guard our west side of the house property drawing amused glances by passers by.

Here is a small sampling of other artist's works from the Launch Pad 002: LAND exhibition....

Alvin Gregorio's son, Koko did a fruit juice stand at the trail headthat was much appreciated by the exhibition hikers.

Geode with Lichen Growth - by Donald Fodness

The Manifold People by Donald Fodness

Behold Nature - by Clay Hawkleysited at the entry road to the exhibit

Roll With it by Amber Farnell - a statue of Michelanelo's "David"dragged through the exhibit, down trails and along the road

Weight of a Pebble by A7A trail with foot prints in the soil. An exhibition wall witha photo of the artist's heel with stone attached... and thestone displayed on a small platform.

This artist perched high on a stone outcrop made announcementsto the exhibition hikers below. He shouted into his bicycle mountedmegaphone, "HAVE YOU EVER FOUND YOURSELF... ON TOP OF A CLIFF... AND WONDERED TO YOURSELF... SHOULD I JUMP?...THAT IS ALL!"

Hearts of Oak by Ryan Elverson

An Impossible Task by Michael Bernhardtthe artist rolled the large construction up and down the mountainous terrain with great effort

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ABOUT AIRWORKS STUDIO

The studio started from a simple joy of making kites in 1976 and has expanded to working with the themes of flight and air in sculptural works. The aerial sculptures now include the aerial acrobatics of colorful and kinetic mobiles, wind blown sail forms, delicate suspended structures, banners, arching bridge forms, wind activated works and installation sculptures.

We have been a collaborating artist team on various sculpture commissions, theater performance works and international kite exhibitions since 1996. Our combined works span a wide range of disciplines. Airworks Studio was created in 1999 to further the exploration into the realms of aerial sculpture.

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ABOUT US

G E O R G E P E T E R S

George Peters has a thirty year history of working with aerial forms from gallery works to installation sculpture, kites, mobiles, wind sculpture and banner works. He has completed over seventy national and international commissioned works for private, corporate and public institutions. He attended Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles and has worked in various art fields as a visual artist, sculptor, craftsman, fiber artist, environmental and installation sculpture, graphic arts, illustration, photography, film animation, digital imaging, architectural modeling, theater set and costume design. Since creating Airworks Studio, Inc. with artist, Melanie Walker in 1999, their joint works have won national and international public art commission awards.

M E L A N I E W A L K E R

Melanie Walker has an exhibition history that spans more than thirty years. She received a BA from San Francisco State University and an MFA from Florida State University. She is a mixed media artist and is invested in ideas. Her approach to materials includes photographic media, digital art, sculpture, installation, fiber art, printmaking, costume design and public art. She has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally and has work in a number of permanent collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson. She is presently a professor of art and teaches photography and alternative photographic processes at the University of Colorado, Boulder.